The Inner Light
' |image= |series= |production= 40275-225 |producer(s)= |story= Morgan Gendel |script= Morgan Gendel Peter Allan Fields |director= Peter Lauritson |imdbref=tt0708803 |guests=Margot Rose as Eline, Richard Riehle as Batai, Scott Jaeck as Ressik Administrator, Jennifer Nash as Meribor, Patti Yasutake as Alyssa Ogawa and Daniel Stewart as Batai, Son of Kamin |previous_production=The Next Phase |next_production=Time's Arrow Part 1 |episode=TNG S05E25 |airdate= 1 June 1992 |previous_release=The Next Phase |next_release=Time's Arrow Part 1 |story_date(s)=Stardate 45944.1 |previous_story=The Next Phase |next_story=Time's Arrow Part 1 }} Summary The Enterprise has just finished a magnetic wave survey of the Parvenium System, when they find an unknown probe which scans the ship and directs an energy beam at Captain Picard, rendering him unconscious. Picard wakes up to find himself on the surface of Kataan, a non-Federation planet. A woman identifies herself as his wife, Eline, telling Picard that he is Kamin, an iron weaver recovering from a feverish sickness. Picard talks of his memories on the Enterprise, but Eline and their close friend Batai try to convince Picard that his memories were only dreams, and acclimate him into their society as Kamin. Picard begins living out his life as Kamin in the village of Ressik, starting a family with Eline, and learning to play the flute. Kamin spends much time outdoors studying nature. As the years pass, he begins to notice that the planet is suffering a worldwide drought owing to increased radiation from the planet's sun. He sends reports to the planet's leaders, who seem to ignore his concerns. Meanwhile, on board the Enterprise, the crew continues attempts to revive Picard. They try to block the influence of the probe, but as a result Picard nearly dies, so they are forced to let it continue. They trace the rocket's trajectory to a system whose sun had gone nova 1,000 years before, exterminating all life in the system. Years pass and Kamin grows old, outliving his wife. Kamin and his daughter Meribor continue their study of the drought. They find that it is not temporary; extinction of all life on the planet is inevitable. Ultimately, Kamin confronts a government official who privately admits to him that the government already knows this but wish to keep it a secret to avoid a panic. The official points out to Kamin that they only just recently managed to successfully launch artificial satellites using primitive rockets: their race simply does not possess the technology level needed to evacuate even a small colony's worth of people before their planet is rendered uninhabitable. One day, while playing with his grandson, Kamin is summoned by his adult children to watch the launch of a rocket, which everyone seems to know about except him. As he walks outside into the glaring sunlight, Kamin sees Eline and Batai, as young as when he first saw them. They explain that he has already seen the rocket, just before he came there. Knowing that the planet was doomed, the planet's leaders placed the memories of their culture into a probe and launched it into space, in the hope that it would find someone who could tell others about their species. Picard then realizes the entire context: "Oh, it's me, isn't it?", he says, "I'm the someone...I'm the one it finds." Picard wakes up on the bridge of the Enterprise to discover that while he perceives many decades have transpired, only 25 minutes have passed. The now inactive probe is brought aboard the Enterprise and the crew finds a small box within it. A somber Riker gives the box to Picard who opens it to find Kamin's flute. Picard, now adept at the instrument, plays the melody he learned during his life as Kamin. Errors and Explanations Plot Oversights # Geordi being able to access information from a probe launch 1000 years earlier by a race that hadn't interacted with other civilisations? The probe probably kept track of it's journey through space, using a computer that could interface with the Enterprise computer via Universal Translator. # Picard apparently relearning how to be a Starfleet Captain in the 5 days before the events of the next episode. He didn't need to relearn it – it was merely suppressed during the interaction with the probe. # JasonDanielBoxer at 02:06, March 15, 2019 I'm wondering about the interactive nature of the probe. Picard has memories of his previous existence as a Starfleet captain, so he seems to still be "himself" - he's not simply filling the role of Kamin and living out the life of a different person moment-for-moment. If he has this free will, however, that would mean that the other "people" (or illusions? holographs?) interacting with him have the capacity to respond organically to whatever Picard/Kamin does. Based on their behavior, it seems to me that the technology can be roughly compared to a holodeck. I guess I'm echoing the first question - how would a civilization with such complex technology not have been able to develop spaceflight? SeniramUK 12:09, March 15, 2019 (UTC) They may not have wanted to travel away from their homeworld. Nit Central # Cybermortis on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - 8:37 am: Of the 1000 people on Enterprise why pick Picard?; I have a theory on this. Picard is the only person on the ship who was assimilated by the Borg. We will learn in ST First Contact that Picard can still hear the Borg. If the probe scanned the ship to find a mind it could interact with, Picard may have been the most receptive because of what the Borg did to him. # JasonDanielBoxer at 02:12, March 15, 2019 (UTC) Same question from the opposing perspective, and one we probably can't answer: why Kamin? SeniramUK 12:09, March 15, 2019 (UTC) Perhaps the real Kamin also noticed the signs of impending disaster, making him and Picard kindred spirits. Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation